Another Year in Online Education: Best of WizIQ Feature Updates of 2013

December 30, 2013

As we near the end of another glorious year, 2013, we feel grateful to all the people who helped us be a better and a stronger company. The beginning of the year was full of new opportunities and fortifying of the foundations, as WizIQ raised $4 million from Kaizen and Bertelsmann Group to invest into the future of online education.

2013 has been an eventful year for EdTech and for us. We accomplished so much all thanks to the wonderful home team, great investors, and most importantly, all the teachers and students, who kept us inspired and driven. We believe 2014 is going to be a Golden Year for WizIQ as well as online education. So before we predict the future trends, lets have a flashback.

In case you missed out on this year’s WizIQ moments, please take some time to go through the best of WizIQ feature updates of 2013:

1. The WizIQ Desktop App: We launched the WizIQ desktop app that allows teachers to access the Virtual Classroom easily and readily.

3. Reduced Latency for Improved Audio & Video Experience: WizIQ recently added a few more servers to our IT ecosystem, thereby making our technology infrastructure more robust than before. With this addition, WizIQ now has servers in the US (Washington D.C., California, and Texas), Ireland, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Tokyo, and Sydney. These multiple servers allow us to provide best-in-class services to our users in every part of the world.

4. Better Video Streaming: We recently enhanced the video streaming, so that the videos uploaded to WizIQ can now be viewed in High Definition (HD). Users can experience seamless video playback by adjusting the video quality to Low, Medium or High, according to their internet connection speed.

6. WizIQ Virtual Classroom is now 508 Compliant: When it comes to individuals with disabilities, ensuring accessibility of software and delivering an optimized user experience through assistive technologies is crucial. With that in mind, we recently upgraded the WizIQ Virtual Classroom to make sure that it complies with the Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act. This means that the WizIQ Virtual Classroom can now be easily accessed by the blind and visually and mobility impaired individuals. People with these disabilities simply need to install JAWS, a screen reader from Freedom Scientific ®, on their Windows-based computer to get voice prompts for various buttons and features in the Virtual Classroom.

7. Multiple Co-presenter feature: With this feature, a teacher can allow one or more co-teachers to co-ordinate or co-teach the virtual class. This feature allows a better and more efficient online classroom management.

8. Say goodbye to audio/video delays: WizIQ needs 32% less bandwidth now. Previously the Codec that we used, consumed too much bandwidth, around 267Kbps for a/v streaming. So we switched to a better option. The new Codec is called H.264 and it needs only 182 Kbps. Almost 32% reduction in consumption.

As more students turn to the Internet for learning, WizIQ will continue to meet all the teaching needs of its 255,000 teachers worldwide with greater enthusiasm and passion, in 2014 and the years to come. Have a great new year!

Comments

Great list of the new capabilities of WizIQ. I think it’s time I refreshed myself by taking some new classes on the features of the classroom. I’m so comfortable using my old well-loved features that I haven’t explored the new ones. You guys are doing a fantastic job!

Great list of the new capabilities of WizIQ. I think it’s time I refreshed myself by taking some new classes on the features of the classroom. I’m so comfortable using my old well-loved features that I haven’t explored the new ones. You guys are doing a fantastic job!